For about five years, we have been trying hard to find the real coffee gems and top producers in Mexico’s vast countryside and varied regions.
In a country which has historically produced more standard coffees, we felt that somewhere in the mix of 5 million bags existed great coffees that were just getting blended together, so every year we travel and learn; cup and visit, cup, drive and cup. We offered better prices for top-cupping coffee, we held a quality contest with 10 roasters cupping the best coffees of the year. We attended the first and second CoE, and visited the winners and contenders and were constantly asking where the great coffees are. The contest “Lo Mejor de Mexico,” was a success: We found 90-point coffees. CoE was a great vehicle for quality and price discovery, as it has been in many countries over the last 15 years.
We found that there is a difference in style and substance between regions and microregions. In Coatapec, producers tend to deliver cherries to the mill, but there are many small producers with micromills and raised beds–where in Chiapas you find small producers depulping by hand and drying wherever they can, to deliver dry parchment to a central repository. Chiapas is also home to cooperatives, both Fair Trade and not. Many organic producers and large estates are entirely self-contained, and efficiently producing their own electricity to run their own wet mills, dry mills, and support their housing.
With this experience, we decided to launch the “Regional Select Mexico” project. This project aims to highlight the specia,l unique profiles we have found inherent in specific regions and microregions within Mexico due to microclimate, processing style, variety, and overall terroir. The regions we will begin by highlighting are Veracruz, Coatapec, and Chiapas.
The vast majority (90%) of Mexico’s coffee is produced in four states in the southern half of the country: Chiapas (35%), Oaxaca (13%), Puebla (15%) and Veracruz (25%). Coffee is grown by more than 490,000 farmers, around 70% of whom are smallholders with fewer than 10 hectares of land. Large estates are rare–only 0.06% of farms are larger than 50 hectares. [Source: Amecafé, August 2012]
We are obviously paying a premium for anything above 86, and a lot more for coffees above 90 points, with the idea that quality coffee takes more time and effort and is worth more to all of us.
Best Regards,
Andrew Miller
Read more posts from Andrew Miller
View our current Mexico Regional Select offerings’ here, and their Beanologies here: Baxtla, Vega Del Rosario, El Porvenir-Siltepec, Coatepec
